TORY councillors have demanded to know what is happening to the area's speed camera cash.

TORY councillors have demanded to know what is happening to the area's speed camera cash.

Kirklees Conservative Group leader Clr Robert Light has called for greater openness on the money made from speed camera fines.

He said the Government had dodged questions in Parliament on how many speed cameras there now were in Britain and where the money was going.

Clr Light said: "There is growing concern that cameras are being used to raise revenue rather than for their original purpose to improve road safety.

"Questions are being raised about whether they are actually being used to reduce accidents.

"The Government's claim that they do not know how many speed cameras there are is either a sign of deceit or incompetence."

Clr Light called for greater public scrutiny of the accounts of the Safety Camera Partnership across West Yorkshire.

"The public deserve to be told how many speed cameras there are across Kirklees, how much they are raising, and where the money is going.

"There needs to be a public debate on the accounts of these safety camera partnerships."

He added that Conservatives believed that cameras should be positioned in genuine accident blackspots or where there were obvious dangers such as outside schools.

"We want to see an independent audit of how many cameras there are and where they are placed. We will also abolish these revenue-sharing partnerships and we will review speed limits - such as raising the motorway limit to 80mph and reducing limits outside schools, for example, to 20mph."

The West Yorkshire Casualty Reduction Partnership, which looks after the region's cameras, has announced plans for more than 20 new sites, mainly in Halifax and Bradford.

A spokesman said surveys showed that the presence of cameras had a marked effect on road safety.

Income from the camera fines was allocated to police forces operating in each area.